Space Exploration News – Latest Headlines

DARPA picks design for next-generation spaceplane (w/video)

Agency partners with Boeing to build and fly an experimental vehicle for aircraft-like access to space.

May 31, 2017 Read more

Do stars fall quietly into black holes, or crash into something utterly unknown?

Astronomers have put a basic principle of black holes to the test, showing that matter completely vanishes when pulled in. Their results constitute another successful test for Albert Einstein's General Theory of Relativity.

May 30, 2017 Read more

Jupiter's complex transient auroras

Combined observations from three spacecraft show that Jupiter's brightest auroral features recorded to date are powered by both the volcanic moon Io and interaction with the solar wind.

May 26, 2017 Read more

The big star that couldn't become a supernova (w/video)

For the first time in history, astronomers have been able to watch as a dying star was reborn as a black hole. It went out with a whimper instead of a bang.

May 25, 2017 Read more

Biggest ever simulations help uncover the history of the galaxy

Thousands of processors, terabytes of data, and months of computing time have helped a group of researchers create some of the largest and highest resolution simulations ever made of galaxies like our Milky Way.

May 24, 2017 Read more

A new approach to forecasting solar flares?

Using 3D numerical models, an international team has discovered a proxy that could be used to forecast an eruptive event. The proxy is associated with magnetic helicity, which reflects the extent of twist and entanglement of the magnetic field.

May 22, 2017 Read more

Hubble spots moon around third largest dwarf planet

The combined power of three space observatories, including NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, has helped astronomers uncover a moon orbiting the third largest dwarf planet, catalogued as 2007 OR10. The pair resides in the frigid outskirts of our solar system called the Kuiper Belt, a realm of icy debris left over from our solar system's formation 4.6 billion years ago.

May 20, 2017 Read more

Experts explain origins of topographic relief on Earth, Mars and Titan

The surfaces of Earth, Mars, and Titan, Saturn's largest moon, have all been scoured by rivers. Yet despite this similarity and the amazingly Earth-like landscapes of Titan complete with valleys, lakes, and mountains, researchers report new evidence that the origins of the topography there and on Mars are different from on Earth.

May 20, 2017 Read more

New 'styrofoam' planet provides tools in search for habitable planets

Highly inflated gas giant orbits bright southern star.

May 16, 2017 Read more

Researcher identifies key differences in solar wind models

New research has found that when choosing the right model to describe the solar wind, using the one that takes longer to calculate does not make it the most accurate.

May 15, 2017 Read more

Research increases distance at which supernova would spark mass extinctions on Earth

Researchers conducted an examination of the effects of a supernova that occured 2.6 million years ago on Earth's biology.

May 11, 2017 Read more

Space radiation reproduced in the lab for better, safer missions

Laser plasma-based accelerator, used to mimic the types of space radiation which present a threat to astronauts and space technology - allowing realistic testing on earth.

May 8, 2017 Read more

Chemical engineer explains oxygen mystery on comets

A chemical engineer who normally develops new ways to fabricate microprocessors in computers has figured out how to explain a nagging mystery in space - why comets expel oxygen gas, the same gas we humans breathe.

May 8, 2017 Read more

Origin of Milky Way's hypothetical dark matter signal may not be so dark

Galaxy's excessive gamma-ray glow likely comes from pulsars, the remains of collapsed ancient stars.

May 3, 2017 Read more

Ripples in the cosmic web

A team of astronomers has made the first measurements of small-scale ripples in primeval hydrogen gas using rare double quasars.

April 27, 2017 Read more

Engineers investigate a simple, no-bake recipe to make bricks from Martian soil

Explorers planning to settle on Mars might be able to turn the planet's red soil into bricks without needing to use an oven or additional ingredients. Instead, they would just need to apply pressure to compact the soil - the equivalent of a blow from a hammer.

April 27, 2017 Read more

Scientists propose mechanism to describe solar eruptions of all sizes (w/video)

Scientists propose that a universal mechanism can explain the whole spectrum of solar eruptions. They used 3-D computer simulations to demonstrate that a variety of eruptions can theoretically be thought of as the same kind of event, only in different sizes and manifested in different ways.

April 26, 2017 Read more

'Ageless' silicon throughout Milky Way may indicate a well-mixed galaxy

New surveys of the Milky Way found no aging trend for the element silicon, a fundamental building block of rocks throughout our solar system. This 'ageless' appearance may mean that the Milky Way is more efficient at mixing its contents than previously thought, thereby masking the telltale signs of chemical aging.

April 26, 2017 Read more